And Then You
by iandyourghost
Summary: It is said that crossroads are inhabited by wandering spirits. Tsunayoshi Sawada grows up. Or tries to.
1. Chapter 1

Is...anyone going to read this? -haha. Uhm Reborn is not mine. Wish it were. I would feel smart and awesome. :D ...Anyone who does read it.. Yay! comment? It's okay if you don't.

Oh! and the title is from the song "And Then You", by Greg Laswell.

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Who is Tsuna?

A boy with a soul too old for him trapped in a body forced to grow up too quickly, kind eyes and heartbreak and indecesiveness.

Tenth Vongola, a leader, an inspiration, unbendable, unbreakable, supposed to be-

Sawada Tsunayoshi. Alarm clocks in the morning, and bad grades, and a big smile and-

Well. He can't be both.

A slouching walk that straightens in the face of danger, trapped between _what I should be_, and _what I was_ (or the other way around)_, _with a decision to make, and hearts to break (including his own) and half a life to abandon.

_(how far a soul splits before it breaks)_

Uncomfortable with a life that was meant for him, too comfortable with one that was not, two worlds that never meet.

_Atlas bears the weight of the sky, stranded between heaven and earth._

The world holds its breath, waiting for him to move forward.

_It is said that crossroads are a home for wandering spirits._


	2. Chapter 2

Has anyone ever considered Nana's side of the story?? No. Just me? 'Kay . This one is kinda...screwed up. Angst? Lol. Sorry.

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Nana Sawada is an unconventional sort of mother.

_Her friends love to reiterate this fact over tea at her house._

_"He's gone so often," says Aimi from next door. "Aren't you worried?"_

_Nana says nothing as sets the tray down, fidgeting with her apron._

She's not _worried_ about Tsuna, per say.

She knows her Tsuna is kind, and honest, and he'll do her proud, no matter what. But, he had grown so _fast._

She watches his back as he leaves- when had he stopped slouching? When had his shoulders broadened?

When had he stopped coming to her for every scratch and cut he got?

When had he-

_Outgrown his mother?_

Was it selfish of her, to want her little boy back?

Sometimes, when Nana is sweeping in Tsuna's room, empty again, she can't help the (deepdowninsideburied) _resentment_ she feels for the man standing in Tsuna's place.

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"Well, I'm off again," says Tsuna, halfway through the door already. He smiles, and kisses her cheek, and Nana can't find any words to say, can swear she hears _something _breaking.

She doesn't need to walk in his room, see all his toys, and blankets, and books and childhood_, _packed away to know-

Wordlessly, she stumbles, falls onto his (old) bed, and buries her face into the soft mattress.

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"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in."

-Deepak Choprah


	3. Chapter 3

LOL. I don't really like this one. Dunno why...it just strikes me as slightly-off. Dangit. Suggestions on how to fix? OH. Reborn isn't mine.

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_**-**_

_**Phantom limb syndrome:** The perception of sensations in a limb after it has been amputated._

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Namimori Middle School forgets Tsuna.

He was never really noticed in the first place, flitting uncertainly at the edge of students' visions, slouching low in his desk, studiously ignored by teachers.

_Yet, perhaps...._

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Namimori Middle School forgets Tsuna, but they don't really succeed.

_"Hey, you know, did Kimi always sit there? I could have sworn...."_

_"He reminds me of that dude...you know...."_

_"That loser...? The one with brown hair....?"_

Tsuna exists in their mind as nothing more than an absence that shouldn't have been, barely noticed, ripples that whisper against the surface.

Namimori Middle School forgets Tsuna, and his disappearance is an old war wound that throbs in the rain, and aches in the winter, and they adjust, and the students that remember him move on to different high schools, become enwrapped in their own lives, and

Namimori Middle School forgets Tsuna, and then he is gone.

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	4. Chapter 4

Been a while, yea? Sorry. LOL. Reborn isn't mine.

Sometimes Haru hates Tsuna. Sometimes Haru resents Tsuna, resents his kindness and his smile and everything that made him-

_so hard to forget._

_And sometimes Haru cries herself to sleep without even noticing, sometimes Haru takes the long way to school, sometimes Haru makes complete bypasses all around town just to avoid-_

That house. The small, empty house home to a grieving mother and a ghost-

_and memories, and coldness, and a Tsuna shaped, crater-sized hole that ripped the foundation of the house apart-_

How could he just _leave? Takes with him the sun and the moon and her whole world-_

will never be the same he was her first-

_love, first loves are so hard to get over and he's always there, at the edge of her vision, his voice in her ears, and she hates it because-_

It was in the newspaper _(the obituaries)_:

On April 22nd, Tsunayoshi Sawada died of unexpected causes _(died of living, died of trying died of his kindness and his sacrifice and his godammn too big heart)_

_Haru thinks her name should be up in the obituaries too, because-_

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_And they lived (un)happily ever after._


End file.
